Vasiliy Kulik was born in Irkutsk Oblast, Soviet Union to an aristocratic family. His father was a doctor of Biological Sciencesand writer, his mother a school-headmistress. A few years later, Kulik left home and began work as a medic in the Irkutsk Emergency Station. He married and had three sons. After his arrest, the police interviewed the Kulik family. His mother told the police that her son had grown weak and had developed a limp. She said that her son had tortured animals as a child, and that he had assumed a dominant male persona in his manner of dress and in his interests. His sisters reported that he was selfish and cruel. Kulik grew up in an unstable environment and, when his father died, tried to commit suicide. Kulik became sexually active at an early age and had many girlfriends. In school, he had been involved with a girl but became depressed after she moved to another city. At age 20, he started pursuing older, married women, but was frequently rejected. In 1980, Kulik wrote a novel in which the main character forms a relationship with a nine-year-old girl with the sole purpose of having sex with her. Prior to the murders, Kulik had committed a series of rapes of children. In 1984, he drugged, raped and strangled an elderly woman he encountered on the street. His second victim was an eight-year-old girl. The third was a 53-year-old woman whom he killed with a gun and a kitchen knife. His other victims included six children, the youngest was only 2 years 7 months, and seven elderly women. On 17 January 1986 Kulik was arrested and eventually convicted of 13 murders and near 30 rapes and assaults. He was sentenced to death by firing squad on 11 August 1988. He was executed in 1989.
